News and Events

Primary Trip to Edinburgh, February 12-16th 2012

King's College Murcia — 2012-02-17T13:09:26+00:00

KS2 Trip to Edinburgh

Day 1

From the 12^th February to the 16^th February 2012, a group of 39 intrepid travellers took the brave step of travelling to Edinburgh, Scotland.

After a very long check in at Murcia airport, we finally arrived in Scotland at 22.30 local time.

The flight was quick and the children were very well behaved. The other passengers on the plane commented on how impressed they were by their behaviour. They were truly a credit to the school.

Most of the children were disappointed not to find snow in Edinburgh. It was in fact 3 degrees. The hostel was very warm and we even had to open a few windows! The hostel was very welcoming and we were hugely impressed by it. After the initial excitement of being in a new place, the children eventually settled down to sleep.

Day 2

Day 2 began with a good breakfast and some very bleary eyes. However, the brisk walk along the cobbled streets of Edinburgh, to the Camera Obscura, soon dusted off the cobwebs and we all enjoyed a great demonstration of the camera and ’spying’ on individuals as they walked along the Royal Mile below. The other floors of activities were great fun: the mirror maze and holograms being particularly popular.

Next, as we were in the vicinity, we decided to pay Greyfriar’s Bobby a visit. Greyfriar’s Bobby is a tale of a faithful dog; he watched over his deceased owner in order to make sure his grave wasn’t robbed by the grave-robbers who terrorised Edinburgh in the past. We ventured down the many steps from the top of the Royal Mile across to Greyfriar’s Kirk and saw the grave of the beloved canine and his master. At this point, tummies were beginning to rumble so we dined ‘al fresco’ in the Grassmarket, near the spot of the former gallows!!!

After a fabulous lunch of traditional chips, we marched to the spectacular castle that overlooks the whole city. Once there, we learnt some of the history of the castle and were given a demonstration of WWI soldier’s equipment. The Y3 boys particularly enjoyed watching the lady show how a bayonet was used in battle! We continued around the great castle and saw the former home of Mary Queen of Scots and visited the beautiful Scottish Crown Jewels.

After visiting the castle, we meandered down through the city for a supper of pizzas and pasta. It was a weary but happy crew that returned to the hostel for an early night.

Day 3

After breakfast we all got onto the coach and journeyed towards the Scottish Highlands. As we approached the City of Stirling we were excited to see the impressive sight of Stirling Castle looming over us as we entered the town.

Once inside, we learnt a great deal about the history of the castle as we looked at the cannons overlooking Stirling and the site of the Battle of Bannockburn. From the battlements we could clearly see the strategic position of the castle and why the English and Scots have fought over its possession for hundreds of years.

Inside the castle, we visited the enormous kitchens and discovered that even children would have a daily allowance of beer and wine. This would be 1 Scottish pint a day (equivalent to 3 English pints, about 1.5 Litres!!!).

After the kitchens, we walked up to the Great Hall and Palace (built for his wife by King James IV), where we met one of Queen Mary’s ladies in waiting. She told us all about the customs and habits of people in the Scottish Court in Tudor times. The court jester then explained to us the significance of the Unicorns depicted on the tapestries in the audience chambers and bed chambers of the palace. He also reassured the children that in his day, children only had to wash once every two months, as too much washing let in the germs! I think most of the children agreed!

After lunch, we ventured into the military museum and learnt about the numerous garrisons stationed in the castle and where in the world they fought. The children saw many exhibits varying from models of battles fought by Scottish regiments, to excerpts from actual soldiers’ diaries.

Finally we visited the Queen Anne Chapel and then her gardens, where we saw a huge timeline of Scottish history and some film footage of the battle of Bannockburn.

After what everyone agreed was an excellent time at the castle, we returned to central Edinburgh to run around in Prince’s Street Gardens before the uphill walk to a supper of beef stew with ‘tatties’ in a bistro.

Day 4

Our final day began with a bus journey to the docks to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia. This is a truly magnificent vessel which was decommissioned in 1997 after it sailed its last voyage carrying the Queen and her entourage. In its lifetime of 50 years, this ship has covered over a million miles! It was fascinating to walk around the rooms and decks where the British Royal Family once worked and played and to see the difference between their rooms (’quarters’) and those of the ordinary crewman.

After our al fresco lunch, we decided to surprise the children with an open-top bus ride around the city. We listened to the commentary telling us all about some of the interesting buildings around the city. The bus then dropped us off near the Royal Mile and we walked uphill (again!!!) to the Auld Reekie Tours….

The Auld Reekie Tours was a journey into Edinburgh’s less salubrious past. It was a tour of the vaults made under North Bridge. These once housed thousands of homeless people, some two hundred years ago, and were infamous in their time for crime and disease. We were given an entertaining talk about some of the ghosts that still wander these underground halls. After which we were shown how dark it truly was in the vaults when our guide switched off his torch!

In stark contrast, we then paid a quick visit to the museum of childhood just around the corner where the children were interested to see some of the ‘old fashioned’ video games us grown-ups once played. The girls were fascinated by the dolls and dolls-houses and I believe that an original Rupert the Bear was also spotted.

Finally, we ate a sumptuous dinner at the Hard Rock Café. Everyone enjoyed the music that was played and we were all interested in the rock memorabilia displayed around the walls. The children were very excited to buy their ‘Hard Rock Café’ t-shirts and trinkets.

It was finally off to the hostel for a very early night.

Day 5

The last day! We ate a very early breakfast and headed for Edinburgh airport at 8.15am. Even though the children were weary their behaviour throughout our long journey home was impeccable.

Miss Shreeve, Year 4 teacher and Trip Leader said: ‘It can be safely said that the annual KS2 trip this year has been a rip-roaring success. Here’s to the next one! By all accounts Rome is the next stop!’

Valentine´s Disco, 10th February 2012

King's College Murcia — 2012-02-13T08:58:07+00:00

On Friday 10th February about 40 children from Years 3 to 6 took part in a Valentine´s Disco. Brilliantly organised and run by Becca Scott and Lottie Brown, including food and drinks, music, decoration and all the games, the disco ran from 5 to 7pm. There was musical statues, pass the parcel and musical chairs, as well as a competition for best dancer. Mr Rumsitrzewicz gets Mr Silk´s vote, but unfortunately he was inelligible for the prize. All the parents came eager to collect their children at 7pm to spend some time with them before they were whisked off to Edinburgh on an exciting school trip. In the Primary School at King´s the children burn the candle at both ends! Thanks of course go to Lottie and Becca, but also to Mr Rumistrzewicz and Mr Silk for supervising, although we were disappointed that Mr Silk did not take to the dance floor (apparently he was too worried he would be shown up by Mr R and the children of course).

King's College Opens Art Gallery, 26th January 2012

King's College Murcia — 2012-02-01T09:46:51+00:00

What a superb opening night of our School Art Gallery! It was extremely well attended by parents, on spec. visitors and even fellow artists and sculptors. The tapas and drinks were enjoyed by all and it was great to see some of our own pupils there. Already in the first few days of the exhibition teachers have taken advantage of the gallery and used the space for their own classes. It really is a fantastic space and a real credit to the school. A big thank you to Eppo Cardelo and Cristina Pelfort and also to Mr Green for his input and we look forward to seeing future exhibitions going on in the gallery. A reminder if you would like to exhibit in our art gallery then please contact Mr Nicholas Green at nicholas.green@kingsgroup.org Lastly, do come and visit during the day any time between 9.30 and 5.30pm because the exhibition will be ongoing up to the middle of March. The art work really is superb and it is well worth a visit. Also do remember that all art work on display is for sale, if any piece of work takes your fancy.

Inter-House Scrabble 2012

King's College Murcia — 2012-01-20T16:50:12+00:00

Inter-House Scrabble

The four houses battled it out at ‘Scrabble’ this week, with Churchill House emerging the victors, winning all four of their matches.

For those who do not know the game, ‘Scrabble’ involves the players needing to form words from a certain amount of letters and, in the case of our in house rules, a certain amount of time. The letters are then placed on a board and the score determined by the letters used, the length of the word and the squares the letters are placed on. As we have a range of languages used at King’s College, the pupils were allowed to form words from English, Spanish, French and German. This gave them more possibilities and also tested their knowledge of the languages.

The matches were very closely fought and in most cases it was not clear who would win until right at the end. Nevertheless, Churchill House proved too strong this time for the other house teams. Their final game was against Cervantes House, who had also won their previous two matches, but close to the end Shea Toomey (Year 9) placed a word scoring a gigantic 45 points which sealed the win. Churchill House had not won a house competition in the Secondary School so far this year, so well done to their Scrabble team for giving their house something to shout about.

FANTASY… OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

Ruth — 2012-01-17T23:00:00+00:00

Last Wednesday, we all enjoyed “La Nuca Teatro” performance “Fantasy… (or something like this)”, an adventure about three characters who are expelled from their worlds because of being different. They are sent to a forgotten world, used as a place for leftovers and waste. In this world the three of them learn how to accept each other. Meanwhile, in their worlds, things start to go wrong without them… Both students and teachers had a great time and we also realized how important it is to accept everybody just as they are, as well as accepting ourselves. Thank you everyone for your attendance!

Opening of School Art Gallery, Thursday 26th January 2012

King's College Murcia — 2012-01-17T09:35:43+00:00

ART GALLERY OPENING, THURSDAY 26TH JANUARY 2012, AT 6.30PM

On Thursday 26th January King’s College, the British School of Murcia opens an Art Gallery. This will showcase exhibitions, mainly of local artists on a six to eight weekly basis. The opening exhibition will be of paintings by Sñr José María Cardelo, aka Eppo Cardelo, who has his own studio at the La Manga Club. This will run until Friday 16^th March. During that time visitors are welcome to come and visit our gallery on week days between 9.30am and 5.30pm. When arriving please visit the reception where you will be given a pass and a chance to browse the gallery at your leisure. The second exhibition will be by Stanislav Majorosi beginning on Thursday 22^nd March. On 26^th January and 22^nd March there will be openings with drinks and tapas for any visitors, from 6.30pm.

Christmas Dinner, Thursday 22nd December 2011

King's College Murcia — 2011-12-23T10:36:58+00:00

Just one final bash before the end of term- a superb Christmas lunch enjoyed by all. Maria Carmen and her excellent team prepared a whole host of delicious treats for everyone involved- turkey, chicken, roast potatoes and baby carrots and Christmas pudding and creamy chocolate cake. Most exciting of all, was the chance to pull Christmas crackers and party poppers (for most of our Spanish students this was the very first time they had tried out this very British tradition and many were somewhat perplexed about which end to pull!) Importantly, the kitchen staff were even given a break as the teachers donned aprons and got behind the lunch counter to serve the pupils.

The Secondary pupils even got together for a sing along to popular Christmas songs, including classics like ‘Do they know it’s Christmas?’ Lastly the teachers were treated to some mulled wine courtesy of the Headmaster’s rather dubious culinary skills. A huge thank you to the catering staff and a happy Christmas and New Year to all.

It´s A Nativity, Early Years Christmas Show 2011

King's College Murcia — 2011-12-21T15:49:52+00:00

‘It’s A Nativity!’, Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st December

On Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd December Key Stage 1 and Early Years performed ‘It’s A Nativity.’ This nativity play was packed full of brilliant songs accompanied by nearly as brilliant acting! All the children sang their hearts out and as the title song says ‘we’ve practised hard, we’ve learnt our lines and performed these song a hundred times!’ Their hard work paid off and everyone performed fantastically.

Costumes provided by parents were as good as ever, enabling the children to look as good as they sounded.

Well done to the children, you were great! A big thank you to Mrs Wood, Mrs Stackhouse, Mrs Shaw and Mrs Fellows and all the EYFS and KS1 team for all their hard work in producing the play and, lastly, a big thank you to all those involved in the administration, not least Carlos Campos, Arianna Suarez and all the Secondary and upper Key Stage 2 pupils who helped on the days.

King´s College Has Got Talent , Monday 19th December 2011

King's College Murcia — 2011-12-21T15:23:15+00:00

The last Monday of term saw many of the Primary and Secondary children parade their talents. With little time to rehearse the performances on show were very impressive indeed and just show how far our pupils have come with their dancing and musical skills under the tutelage of Mrs Fellows generally and Mr Ward-Campbell on the piano. The show was added to significanatly by a few numbers from the Year 2 Choir and some excellent pieces by the Secondary Glee Club. Although there was 14 performers we could only give out prizes to the top 6 who were as Follows:

1st Place- Lily Hewson (Y10)

2nd Place- Rouschka van der Plank (Y10)

3rd Place- Daniel Carrion Santamaria (Y7)

4th Place- Kayln Coleman and Silvia de Teresa Navarro (Y10)

5th Place- Robbie Heath (Y10)

5th Place- Jake Maddison (Y5)

Well done to all involved and keep practising and remember as in Thomas Edison´s attributed words: 'Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.' Below you can see pictures from the performances.

El Preventorio Infantil Ntra Sra Del Amparo and Charitable Giving at King´s, December 2011

King's College Murcia — 2011-12-20T17:17:06+00:00

King’s College Shows Real Spirit this Christmas

King’s College Murcia has not forgotten the real spirit of Christmas and over the last two weeks the school managed to raise 1,800 euros for charity, through the sale of Christmas cards designed by the pupils, carol singing concerts in the streets of Cartagena and Murcia, a fabulous Christmas fayre and the call for donations towards an orphanage in Gandia. Not only did the children raise this outstanding sum of money, they also brought in, by the bagful, new slippers for the children at the orphanage, and nearly new toys, clothes and shoes. The donations of gifts were so plentiful they only just fitted into the back of the car that Asli Silk, the Headmaster’s wife, drove up to the orphanage in, to deliver the items and money in person.

The orphanage is actually a refuge run by Sister Amelia, for children aged between 3 and 12, who for one reason or another cannot live at home. There are a variety of reasons why the children cannot be looked after at home. Some have parents who are very sick, others have parents in prison, or working away in another country. Sister Amelia came to Spain from Paraguay at the age of 20 to help run the orphanage, and nine years later she is still here, and describes the children as her family.

The rooms are all spotlessly clean and very organised. The children have a lovely garden with swings and an area to play in, and a TV room for when the weather’s bad. They go to stay with family members at the weekends, but many would prefer to stay with the nuns, who provide them with a safe place to live and with love and understanding.

The orphanage, El Preventorio Infantil Ntra Sra Del Amparo, is home to 55 children at present. The children attend school there too, which is kept going through donations and volunteers. The orphanage started out in a tumble down house in 1953, but since then all sorts of good Samaritans have helped maintain and improve the installations, and the centre now has two floors of bedrooms, eight classrooms, a swimming pool, a sports hall, a pleasant garden, a dining area and a multi-purpose room.

The children live a reasonable life, but when Christmas comes around they are not as fortunate as many other children, although they do receive some presents from charities, and donations made from local clubs and other organizations make Christmas a lot merrier.